One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Breakaway Day 2017: "Earthbound"

In
“Earthbound,” Commissioner Simmonds (Roy Dotrice) complains in a Command
Conference about the Alphans’ direction for the future. He wants to know why there has been no
discussion -- and no concrete plans – for a return to Earth. Commander Koenig (Martin Landau) counters
that a return to Earth is impossible and that the Alphans are, rightly,
focusing on two primary goals: survival, and a new place to call home.

Simmonds
is not placated.

Before
long, Alpha detects a powered object -- an alien spaceship – approaching the
moon. Rather than going into orbit, however, it
crashes on the lunar surface. Aboard an
Eagle, Koenig, Professor Victor Bergman (Barry Morse) and Dr. Helena Russell
(Barbara Bain) investigate the vehicle.
They force entry, and find several humanoid aliens in suspended
animation in transparent sleep cubicles.

The
Alphans inadvertently kill one of the aliens when they tamper with a sleep
cubicle, an act which awakes the others, including Captain Zantor (Christopher
Lee). Zantor shows no malice regarding
the accident, and introduces his people, the Kaldorians. They are the last survivors of a world that
has grown sterile, and they are traveling to Earth where they hope to be welcomed
as friends. Their journey, they report,
will take seventy five years.

With
one of their number dead, Zantor offers the vacant slot on his ship to an
Alphan of the Commander's choosing. Accordingly, Dr. Russell begins to study the
suspended animation process while Koenig instructs Computer to pick one Alphan
to return home to Earth. Simmonds wants
Koenig to choose him, but Koenig refuses, noting that the choice must be
objective. Simmonds
refuses to accept that answer. He attacks Alpha’s power station and holds the
base captive.

Koenig
realizes he has no choice but to let Simmonds return to Earth with the
Kaldorians. But Simmonds has not allowed
Zantor time to prepare a proper physiological matrix for him, meaning that the
suspended animation process does not work correctly. Simmonds learns this the hard way very soon into the 75 year journey.

One
aspect of Space: 1999 (1975 – 1977) that I resolutely admire is the fact that many
stories often re-purpose famous literary horror devices or narratives. There’s a valid thematic reason for this, too. The series’ heroes, the Alphans, are not
prepared psychologically or technologically for a deep space journey. They don’t understand the nature of the
galaxy; they are not experienced. Outer space is not a place, necessarily for brotherhood among aliens. It is a realm of mystery.

Accordingly,
the Alphans often encounter beings and phenomena that we would term terrifying. Not always, of course. Some stories deal
with wonder or awe, the other side of the equation. But a good number of
stories, especially in Year One, contend with horror-based ideas, like the
monster in “Dragon’s Domain,” a man with the Midas Touch (“Force of Life,”)
ghosts (“The Troubled Spirit”), and even sadism and torture (“End of Eternity”).

“Earthbound,”
a very strong early entry in the canon functions on a similar principle.In
particular, it pivots off a key element in Edgar Allen Poe’s (1809-1849) short
story: The Premature Burial (1844).
In Poe’s time, a pervasive cultural fear, in fact, was being buried alive. Poe's tale involved a character obsessed -- wracked with fear, in fact -- regarding this
fate. He took many steps to prevent such an outcome,
and yet (it appeared, anyway...) that it was all for naught.

Intriguingly, “Earthbound,” takes that fear of being buried alive – of being trapped, unable
to escape, in a casket -- and updates it for the space age. Here, Commissioner Simmonds fails to take the
necessary precautions before entering a suspended animation chamber, and awakens
only a short-time in on a seventy-five year flight. All the other people on the ship -- Zantor and
the Kaldorians -- are sound asleep and therefore oblivious to his desperate cries for help. And because the cubicle is transparent, we
are able to watch Simmonds’ panic grow and grow, as he repeatedly throws himself against the
unbreakable walls of the sleep cubicle Finally he is left screaming, defeated, with no way to escape his
premature burial.

Surrounding
this climactic set-piece, “Earthbound” features some of the sharpest, and in a
way, cruelest plotting in the entire series. Koenig orders the Computer to pick one name among the Alphans; one
person who the base can reasonably spare if it is to continue to function. Since
Simmonds is not really a member of the base personnel, he is the natural choice to go. But Simmonds refuses to let “chance” (or,
presumably, a machine) dictate his fate, and takes steps to assure that he goes
home. Alas, the irregular manner of his
methods -- blackmail, hostages, gunpoint diplomacy, etc. -- assure that he will
not be adequately prepared for the voyage.
He does not trust Zantor, and doesn’t give him time to prepare a biological matrix. So he will go home…but he will
never, in fact, see home.

At
the end of the episode, the other shoe drops. Helena asks Koenig who Computer
ultimately chose to return to Earth. In
one of the series’ greatest, most chill-inducing codas, Alpha's commander answers. With one word.

“Simmonds.”

Landau’s
delivery is great here. It is deadpan and straight-forward, imbued not with too
much or too little emotion. It’s a simple
declaration, and Landau's delivery allows the viewer take in the
information for him or herself; to realize the full ramifications without spoon-feeding or hand-wringing.

In
short, “Earthbound” represents Space: 1999 at the top of its game. Outside of the horror trope re-purposed for the near future, and the chilling, Twilight
Zone-worthy twist or denouement, we also get examples of the Alphans at
their best here. The Kaldorians are
treated as friends and allies, not as monsters or enemies. A common criticism of the series is that the
Alphans are always “menaced” by advanced aliens. Clearly, that’s not the case in “Earthbound.”
If anything, the Alphans here are menaced by human nature; by Simmond’s selfishness
and cut-throat determination. As Paul Morrow (Prentis Hancock) trenchantly notes at
one point, the Alphans are better off without Simmonds.

And
yet, as bad as Simmonds is, the Alphans clearly don’t wish for him to endure the
horrible fate of being prematurely buried. Accordingly, the episode presents a three-dimensional depiction of the Alphans.
They know how flawed Simmonds is, and yet, as fellow human beings, they can still
empathize with his predicament, and grim fate.

I
picked “Earthbound” to review this year -- the fortieth anniversary of Space:
1999 -- not only because I believe it is a strong episode of the
series, but because it features a guest performance from Sir Christopher
Lee. This great actor passed away a few
months ago, and left behind a vast catalog of amazing work. “Earthbound” is an intriguing part of that work because Lee plays against type. In the early-to-mid-1970s he was widely
typecast as a villain (The Wicker Man [1972], The
Satanic Rites of Dracula [1973], The Man with the Golden Gun
[1974]).

On
Space:
1999, by contrast, he plays a regal and reasonable alien, a being who
doesn’t permit the passions of the moment to alter his beliefs or actions. Lee is quite imposing as Zantor, especially
in his first scenes, wherein we don’t yet know what he will do, or who he
is. But Lee remains a fascinating presence right
through his last appearance in the episode in part because he keeps the
character’s motivations opaque.

In
the last scene, for example, Zantor could help Simmonds by telling him he needs to
prepare a matrix. Instead, he behaves
according to Simmonds demands...and keeps his mouth shut. He makes a choice not to help a man he
considers “diseased.” Is this murder, or
merely an adherence to the logic of the moment? It is very likely that even if Zantor warned Simmonds about the necessity of a matrix,
Simmonds wouldn’t believe him. Hence,
the same fate would result. But I love
how ambiguous the moment is, in terms of Zantor's decision-making and feelings.

The
episode features some other welcome visual touches too, The Kaldorians arrive on Alpha bearing a gift:
ceremonial gold eggs belonging to a life-form called a “libra bird.” Eggs, of course, represent fertility and
re-birth. And the Kaldorians are seeking
their re-birth on Earth. In a way, they
have already been reborn on Alpha, awaking from the deep slumber that has characterized their journey.

I
should also note that I enjoy “Earthbound” because it remembers the basic premise of
the series; that the Alphans are, essentially, us in space. They are men of the
21st century, with our flaws and foibles, not romanticized figures
of perfection and “evolved” natures.Here the Alphans accidentally kill a
Kaldorian while attempting to open a sleep bay.
It is a mistake, of course, but a bad one. Yet when you put human nature together with
the unknown, such things may happen, even if the humans -- Koenig, Bergman and
Helena -- have the best of intentions.

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About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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